Syren flipped through the pages in the basement. Whisper would try to initiate conversation, but he just ignored him. Eventually, Whisper tired and let him do his work. There were plenty of spells, but he couldn't find anything about how to undo this one. Still, whenever he looked back at the page that contained the eclipse spell, it felt strange to him. The page felt like it was newer compared to the other pages. It was cleaner. But the text was written almost the same as the rest of the book.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but he eventually went through the whole black tome without a single way to stop it. He closed it and looked at the rest of the library.

"Do you really plan on looking through every damn book in this place?" Whisper complained.

Syren nodded and picked up some books that were laid on the floor. "It's my responsibility to fix this," he said without hesitation.

"Are you really Syren?" Whisper asked quietly without Syren hearing.

He looked for tomes and books that may have the knowledge he was looking for. Luckily, most of the books contained information about magic. He hoped that at least one of them would help. He went through ten books all at once without a single break. Afterwards, he did decide to stretch his legs. He made sure to take the black tome with him.

"Where are you going?" Whisper asked.

"Gonna go out. I've been looking at these books for so long, that my eyes are beginning to hurt."

The two of them went outside. Syren looked back up at the sky. The eclipse was still there high above them. It was as though it hadn't moved an inch. It felt so strange. Syren could've sworn that he was in the basement for hours or days, but it was still the same outside.

Whisper began to feel a chill run down his spine. He kept looking around as though he was expecting to see somebody. But he couldn't see anyone. It was just the plains. The town was silent. Syren felt as though they would have started to panic by now. He decided to take a visit. He also heard his stomach growl.

"Well, we should at least get some food," Syren said.

"I don't eat," Whisper said as he kept looking around.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Whisper said as he began to change his attitude back to his carefree style, "Let's go to the village and steal some food or something."

He said this as though there was nothing on his mind, but Syren could tell that Whisper was worried. He had a vague connection to him. Something deeper ran through the both of them. Was it because of what Whisper was? Syren didn't know, but he did know that there was something out there. Whisper kept looking around not because he was paranoid, but he instinctively knew that there was something out there.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

When they reached the town, there was nobody in sight. No men, women, or children. Not a single soul. Syren wondered where everybody had gone, but Whisper couldn't care at all as his mind was too preoccupied.

At first, Syren thought that they must have just fled the city in fear, but the place didn't look chaotic. There were still plenty of fresh footprints in the dirt, but each trail led to a dead end. Syren picked up a fresh piece of bread at the nearby bakery and ate it. There was nobody there that could really have stopped him from taking it, but he still felt guilty for stealing. Nonetheless, he had bigger issues to deal with. The sun was still black. Niter Town was empty. And his fresh bread would become stale.

"Whisper, what do you think happened here?" Syren asked.

"Hmm. Oh. I don't know," Whisper replied as he kept turning his head expecting something to be there.

"What is it?"

"I don't know. I don't know," he replied, "We should head back. The people in this town didn't just up and leave."

"I can tell," Syren said as he took another bite into his piece of bread, "The town would have been left in shambles if they had run in a panic. And wherever they went, it would have been recent. The bread I ate was just baked. The fires were still stoked. Yet, there is no sign of the baker. The homes don't look like they've been broken into. Nothing knocked over. No sign that there was an attack. No sign that there wasn't one. I don't even hear a single fly buzzing in the air. It's a ghost town, but only recently. It was like they all got swept up by something all at once."

Whisper kept looking around. "We should leave. This place isn't safe."

Syren nodded. "I'm inclined to agree."

And so, the two of them walked back. Syren took a couple of supplies from the town - food and provisions that would help. He knew it wouldn't last forever, but he carried what he could. The rest he knew would have been left for the dogs and wild animals. However, he felt strange and weary. Whisper began to sweat in anticipation of something. He was afraid. He knew that there was something there, but he didn't know where.

When both of them walked back, they passed by the lake. However, there was a problem. There was no lake. Syren looked upon an empty vast field of open land in fear. The whole lake vanished into thin air. And not just the clear, vibrant water. There wasn't even a single fish laying upon the dirt field that was left. The grass on the lake shores had been uplifted and cut. The sound of frogs were nowhere to be heard. No buzzing of the bugs either. It wasn't that they were all dead. They were just gone.

"Syren...something is coming," Whisper warned, "I don't know what, but something is coming. No. Something is already here."

Whisper quietly said to himself, "Seven tears. Seven tears. Why seven? Something is wrong. Something is strange. I can feel it. It's near. It's here. It's there. It's here, again. It's near."

Then, as Syren's eyes were set upon the vast emptiness, Whisper quickly grabbed his arm. It took all the strength Whisper could muster, but he managed to touch him. It was searing hot, but Whisper wasn't trying to hurt him.

"Back. Back! Back away!" Whisper cried as he pulled Syren a couple of steps away. The provisions and food dropped, but didn't reach the ground. Not a second later, a creature sprouted from underneath where Syren once stood.

Large and unholy in all forms. A worm larger than any construct man could make. Its mouth swirling with nothing but a dark emptiness. It tore right through the grass and food leaving nothing behind as if it was consumed whole. But it left the dirt unspoiled. It cried out a song below the eclipse. More of it began to come out from underneath the dirt without a care. Its wriggling, intestine-like body had no end. The world had plenty of monsters, but nothing so horrid. It dug back into the dirt consuming any and all life in its way - bugs and plants alike. Any leaf that came in contact with its gaping mouth gone before the blink of an eye. No teeth. No jaws. Just a dark void where its mouth should be. It wriggled back into the world leaving only the soil. Not just a mere worm, but a serpent - a serpent of dirt and mud.